How to Replace Radiator 2007-10 BMW X3

I wanna disconnect the battery. So, get to the battery in the back. Just use a 10-millimeter socket. Remove the negative cable. Loosen it up. Just slide it off and out of the way. Make sure it doesn't arc out on there. I'm gonna take this cover off. I wanna take these four screws out. I'm gonna use a T30 socket. Grab the cover, slide it off, and take these two screws out. Use a T30. And these two. Same T30. And just grab right here, and just slide it out. You can grab this intake duct right here. Just try to pull it off. Just get that out of the way. Disconnect this connector right here. Just push on that tab. Just try to slide that off just like that. Then, it's held in right here. Just slide that clip off. And take this connector off. Push on those two tabs. Slide it out. Set that aside.

And there's a screw right here. Just use a T25, remove that screw. Pull that out. Just pull this push pin out right here. Just grab this fan shroud, and just slide it up. Be careful of the radiator. Disconnect this connector right here. I'm just gonna use a pocket screwdriver, slide that clip out. Use a straight blade screwdriver. Loosen up this worm clamp. And then, slide this snorkel off. Just like that. And just grab the airbox right here, and just pry up. Just like that. There's some rubber grommets right there. And I'm just gonna take this cap off the coolant reservoir so the coolant drains out a little faster.

We're gonna take the shield off. There's all these screws all along here. They're 8-millimeter. There should be one there, one there, and then the same on the other side. Use an 8-millimeter socket. Take all these out. There should be one right there as well. All right. And then, just pull this down, slide it back. And I'm gonna find the coolant drain, right over here. And I'll just use a Phillips-head screwdriver. Make sure you have a drain bucket underneath. There we go. At the base of the reservoir, I need to pull this clip out. Just grab it. Just slide it towards the passenger side of the vehicle, just to that location right there.

Now, I'm gonna have to pull these coolant hoses off over this junction right here. I'm gonna use a pocket screwdriver. Get underneath these clips right here, and just slide it up. And same with this one right here. And slide it up. I should be able to wiggle this just back and forth. Just be careful, you don't wanna break it. Just put a little bit of pressure, just pushing it towards the back of the vehicle. There it goes. Just be careful, don't force this too much. That's good. All right. On this bottom clip right here, just use the pocket screwdriver. Slide that up. And do the same. Take this hose off. You could use a straight blade screwdriver or a pry bar. Just pry that one out a little bit. Just be careful again.

All right. Now, we're just gonna rock this back and forth, pull a little bit of pressure upwards. Remember, don't pull too hard. There is a connector that's still connected, the electrical connector for the level sensor. So, just little bit of pressure, rocking back and forth. All right. And, eventually, that'll pull up. And you can disconnect the connector right there. Just push down on the tab. And slide that out. Pull the whole thing out. Now, I just wanna take these coolant hoses off. Just use a straight blade screwdriver, pocket screwdriver, slide this clip out. And slide the bottom one out as well. Slide that off, and slide this one off. And pull that one off. I'm gonna separate this cooler right here. Just pull this tab up so that it's in that position. And we'll just grab the cooler. Just rock it back and forth. There's some O-rings in there. You're gonna lose a little bit of coolant, so put a drain bucket underneath. There we go. Take the straight blade screwdriver. Just get under the clip, the clip right there. I already got it off, so. Just twist the hose. Just wiggle that back and forth a little bit. And take that off. That's out of the way.

Take this fastener out here. I'm gonna use a 13-millimeter socket. Loosen this up. You don't have to take it out completely, just get it so the radiator will clear. I'm gonna do the same on the other side. Take this screw out right here. Use a T25. I'm just gonna take this rubber piece off. Use a straight blade screwdriver. Slide that up. Grab the radiator. I'm gonna slide it out, and slide it up. And there we go.

Take this screw out, and then also this screw. I'm gonna use a T25. Very gently, I'm just gonna take a screwdriver and just pry up under here. I don't want anything to break here. There we go. And it looks good, nothing cracked. You can lubricate the O-ring a little bit. Just gonna raise up. So, just slide this whole panel up. There you go. Can transfer this over to the new radiator.

It's always a good idea to replace that O-ring when you go to put it back together. I'm gonna use some silicone paste just around it, lubricate the O-ring. They do actually make O-ring lubricant, which would be ideal, but we'll use some silicone. And just line this up. Make sure that's all the way down. And then, take the screws. Get this screw in here, and this screw right here. And then, you wanna transfer this piece over to the new one. So, take this off the old one. Just use a screwdriver. There's some tabs right here, right here, and right here. And slide that off. And just line this up. And just slide the radiator back down in. Make sure you slide the radiator down in position so that these bolt holes line up. Put this bolt back in here. Tighten that up. And we're just gonna push back on this a little bit, just make sure this is gonna line up. And then, tighten these down a little. And do the same on the other side.

Now, we can put these hoses on. There is O-rings in here. You can use some O-ring lubricant or some silicone. And then, put that clip back in position. Make sure it's nice and clean. And slide this back on. Lock it in place. You can do the same with the other ones. Lock it in place. Grab the transmission cooler. And there's a lock right here, push that lock down. Make sure you lubricate those O-rings as well. Just lubricate that O-ring. Push this clip down, and slide that back in position right here. I'm just gonna hold it from the backside and lock it in place.

All right. You can put this weatherstripping rubber piece right here. It might be a little bit easier to put this on before you put the radiator in, but you could still get it on. Just slide that out, and push down. That's good. Just lubricate these O-rings. Just gonna push this clamp down like that. And make sure you connect the electrical connector right there. Plug that in first. And just slide this in position. I'm just gonna support from underneath and just press down, make sure that's locked in place. It looks good. Slide this on. Lubricate that. And same with this hose. That's good.

Slide the fan in. There's some slots down below you need to get lined up. Just make sure you grab the fan and try to pull towards the back of the vehicle to make sure it's in there properly. And this bolt's gonna go right here. Connect the connector. Lock it in place. Lock push pin that in place. And connect that connector right there. And just push this little retainer tab right there. Take the airbox. Just line these two grommets up with these two tabs right there. Make sure you pull the wire out of the way. And those are lined up. Just push down, lock it in place. Take the hose, line that up. Connect the connector. Lock that in place. And just tighten down this worm clamp. And take this air intake and just slide it in position. Just like that. Reattach it over here on the airbox. That's good.

And line those screws up. Get these all started, and then you can snug them down. And slide this in position. Put these screws in. And tighten those up. And put the drain plug back in. And just snug it, not too tight. Now, reinstall this panel, just to get it lined up. That's good. Take all the bolts and get those all started first. Now, just go around and tighten them all down.

Now, we're gonna reconnect the negative battery cable. And tighten up the nut. Just make sure you wiggle it, make sure it's tight. That's good. And you wanna fill the system with the appropriate coolant. There is a bleeder screw right here. If you need to access it, you can take this piece off right here, and then you can loosen that up. And when coolant comes out of there, then you can close it up. And make sure this is topped off right here. There's a little key here telling where the min and the max is.

At this point, I'm gonna start the vehicle up, let it run, let it idle for a little bit, let it stabilize. Then, I'm gonna put the coolant cap on before it gets to operating temp. So, the coolant level dropped a little bit, so I'm gonna top it off. Cap on. Let it run, let it heat up. Make sure you're constantly monitoring the temp gauge.

It's always a good idea to turn the heat up while you're warming this up and just make sure you feel heat coming out, especially when the temperature gets up. If you see the temperature is already up there, just make sure the heat is coming through. You can always hold the RPMs up a little bit while you're doing this. Just constantly monitor that. Just make sure the temp doesn't go in the red. After the vehicle's run for about 10 minutes, it's warmed up, and you actually feel heat in the dash, then you can shut the vehicle down and let it cool down. You don't wanna take this cap off while it's hot. Once that's cooled down, take the cap off, and adjust accordingly.